small version wip - aiglon college · 2019. 2. 21. · mountains reveal improbable seashells,...

A IG L O N

SchoolThe hills are alive – with the sound of George Logie’s bagpipes.

A I G L O NThe Magazine of Aiglon College

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PeopleFour alumni filmmakersdiscuss the rise and rise of the long-form documentary

MountainAiglon runs up the mountain, en masse, twice a year. Why? The challenge, of course.

IdeasBefore there was a school, there was a dream: a dream of vitality.

T H E M A G A Z I N E

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FeaturesContents

Aiglonology02 Letters03 News05 View from the mountain07 Here’s looking at you09 Staff room 10 Around the mountain 11 Diary14 Laid bare

39 Hello Aiglon!41 Why I love...42 Aiglon Life45 In pictures46 Sports48 Hitched

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Cover: Map courtesy Switzerland Mobility/Swisstopo.

AIGLON is published twice a year, in the winter and summer, and is sent free to Aiglonians. It is available to other readers on subscription. For further information email [email protected] opinions expressed in AIGLON are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of Aiglon College.

Editor: Mira KatbamnaDesign & Art Direction: Paul OldmanPrint: Park CommunicationsProduced for Aiglon College by YBM www.ybm.co.uk

www.aiglon.ch

A IG L O NT H E M A G A Z I N E

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Sweet spotJunior School students learn about chocolate – and business. page 32

Private passionTeacher George Logie brings the sound of Scotland to Switzerland. page 13

The ChallengeTwice a year, the whole Aiglon community takes to the mountain – for a run. page 16

ExpeditionExciting and unifying: why expeditions are at the heart of the Aiglon ethos. page 22

Here is healthVisitors have enjoyed the health -giving properties of the Swiss Alps for more than 150 years. page 34

In 90 minutesLong-form documentary is breaking new boundaries – and four Aiglonians are leading the charge. page 28

It is hard to believe that this is already the third edition of Aiglon Magazine. We have come full circle from one winter to the next and a new school year

is now well underway. The nights are long, the first snow has fallen and the ski team has started training in preparation for another iconic Aiglon year of adventure in the mountains. In this second Winter issue, on page 22, we look at expeditions – an idea central to John Corlette’s concept of a school in the mountains, and an activity that Aiglonians, from the Class of 1949 to the Class of 2015, almost always cite as the most memorable part of their time at the school. Of course, not everyone loved mountain expeditions at the time, as alumna Julietta Dexter (Chantecler, 1987) recalls on page 7. But somehow, those moments – sometimes miserable, sometimes euphoric – remain etched in the heart of every Aiglon student to this day. On page 34, we go back in time to delve deeper into the history of the mountain village that is home to Aiglon. In Here is Health, we examine how the Swiss Alps have long attracted those looking for repose and sport – and how our own Alpina boarding house played a part in bringing health to Villars. And moving back to the present, on page 28 we meet alumni who have made a mark in the documentary film industry. It is interesting that we have so many notable filmmakers among our alumni and that many have chosen the documentary medium as a way of making poignant statements about contemporary society. Perhaps the view from high in the mountains during their formative years had a part to play in nurturing their creativity and vision?In addition to the Aiglon Life community website, launched 18 months ago, the main Aiglon website has now been completely redesigned and revamped. On page 42, we show how Aiglon is going digital and how you can engage with us online. I hope you enjoy this edition of Aiglon Magazine, and wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season.

Joëlle Lambiotte du LacDirector of Advancement

Reader’s lettersEditor’s letter

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I was particularly interested in the story told by Karel Fisher in your magazine (Aiglon 02), as I was also caught outside one of the chalets above Villars which belonged to a girls’ school in Montreux – I also had to travel to Montreux to apologise to the Headmistress. I was privileged to have trav-elled twice with John Corlette, after the end of term, to the South of France in his Jaguar XK150, accompanied by Mr Reynolds in another car. Later, I went on a cultural visit in his Bentley Continental to the beautiful city of Verona for a performance of Aida performed in the amazing amphi-theatre, which I remember clearly to this day! Two of John Corlette’s sisters also came with us. We then travelled to Venice and then Salzburg where we listened to a concert in the grand concert hall. I know we drove back to London through Germany and must have stopped in many of Germany’s most beautiful cities, but I don’t remember which ones! John Corlette, I know, loved music [and often] listened to [records] in his room in Clair-mont. In his sitting room stood the biggest loudspeaker I have ever

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NewsA I G L O N O L O G Y

We are always delighted to receive your letters. Please email [email protected] write to: Aiglon Magazine, Aiglon College, 1885 Chesières, Switzerland.

Scholars and students go stellar This year, Aiglon welcomes 23 scholars from around the world – the largest number of scholarship students ever. Many of these scholarships would not be possible without the generosity of our parents, alumni and supporters. www.aiglonlife.ch/jcscholarship

New leadershipTony Jhangiani-Jashanmal (Belvedere, 1965) has been appointed Chairman of the Board as of February 2015. Aiglon is also pleased to announce that Valerie Scullion will take over as Director of Admissions from the greatly revered Mary Sidebottom in January 2015.

Jake Doyle joins GB teamCongratulations to Jake Doyle (Belvedere, Third Form) who will represent Great Britain at the Ski Interkriterium at the end of January 2015. Jake spent half-term training with the Aiglon Ski Team in Zermatt with David Mansfield, Aiglon’s Ski Race Team Manager, and Stephan du Plessis, Ski Race Coach and Instructor.

In memory of Teddy SennA Japanese maple has been planted in the Forbes Garden in honour of much-loved teacher and houseparent Teddy Senn. The memorial was funded by alumni and the words on the commemorative plaque were written by Eric Gibson (Alpina, 1972).

Aiglon is 65Over 250 alumni gathered in Villars and New York this year to celebrate Aiglon’s 65th anniversary. In Villars, alumni went on a challenging expedition followed by a mountain-top meditation given by Duncan Maxwell (Alpina, 1966). In New York, young alumni joined the FOAC USA for an evening of dancing and friendship.

Round Square JordanIn October, art teacher Peter Willett took a select group of students to the Jordanian desert and to the Round Square conference held at the King’s Academy, Madaba. Students took part in a debate on the subject of “peace”.


seen, it was like a piece of furniture. Since leaving Aiglon I have always loved the outdoor life and in particular the mountains – after six years gazing at Les Dents du Midi, they mean a lot to me. Although skiing was probably everyone’s favourite pastime at Aiglon, the mountains and meadows really come alive when the snow has all gone. I remember the long expeditions we were sent on in the summer: with 120 Swiss Francs in our pocket, we had to bicycle as far as possible (and back) in three days, with just a tent and a few saucepans.William Lockwood (Belvedere, 1965)

I just want to take the opportunity to say how impressed I have been with the last two Aiglon maga-zines. I have very much enjoyed reading them. I loved the piece about John Corlette (Aiglon 02). I too have such great memories of that amazing man, and the effect he had on me has never left me. His ability to identify the good qualities of all his students, and to show them implicitly that he did so, was among the qualities that made him great. I would have loved to have gone on knowing him after I left school. It was also great to hear that Joyce Lowe seems to be still going strong. To a 12 year old she seemed to be about 100 years old in the early 1960s so I guess she must be going on for 200 years old now! I came to Aiglon in about 1961 as a shy young English ex-prep school boy who had failed the Common Entrance Exam to an English public school. I still tell everyone that my Common Entrance failure (which made my poor father very cross) remains the single best exam result I have ever achieved, because it resulted in my parents making the fantastic decision to send me to Aiglon!

My failure in that one exam was of infinitely greater real and lasting value to me than any success in exams since. I got so many things out of Aiglon but among the top ones was the confidence needed to make myself a career in agriculture, which has been incredibly rewarding in every way (except financially!).Chris Bluett(Alpina, 1965)

I arrived home to the fabulous new edition of the magazine, I particularly loved the story on “home”! Happy Summer!Alia Al-Senussi(Chantecler, 2000)

Last summer I was browsing idly in an antiquarian shop in Morat, not far from Neuchâtel, when I

came across a beautifully bound book depicting Switzerland in photographs. It was undated, but the evidence of the pictures indicated that it must have published around 1902. The vignette chosen as the frontispiece was instantly recognisable – the Dents du Midi as seen from Chesières. How could I resist this affordable antique adorned by the precise view from my chalet, albeit 100 years ago?

Precise view? To all intents and purposes, yes. I found myself thinking – rather idiotically, it seemed at that moment – how remarkable it was that the mountain skyline appeared identical to its present profile. The plentiful monochrome pictures of Villars and Chesières, however, betrayed a quite different physiog-nomy: a few scattered chalets, small clusters of primitive buildings, narrow, meandering bridle paths, a few large hotels (all gone now, either demolished or razed by fire). The forest profile was quite different 100 years ago, the rising pastures more sparsely coiffed with clusters of spruce.

In geological timescales, this sudden human flourishing on the landscape’s outer skin has been almost instantaneous; science and reason would suggest that its disappearance is likely to be just as rapid and sudden. Over many millions of years our familiar skyline will also move, crumble, and be inexorably smoothed by erosion of many forms. How do we reconcile these change processes over such vastly differing timeframes?

Simply put, we do not. Just as we are ill-equipped to grasp the enormity of the universe and our minute place in it, so we are left stranded when trying to comprehend the enormity of time and the ephemeral nature of our lives. However, we do leave traces. Our local mountains reveal improbable seashells, fossils and dinosaur footprints from

millions of years ago. It is an appetising creative challenge to wonder what traces we might leave that defy the passage of millennia.

Let us imagine a picture book of Chesières in 2114. (It is unlikely to be on paper; perhaps a three-dimensional sequence projected onto an invisible 360° screen operated by thought or eye movement). We can safely anticipate that the mountain morphology of Chesières will be unchanged and instantly familiar, barring some glacial retreat. But what of our village? Or our school? It is highly unlikely that these will look as they do today. This article will seem quaint and of its time,

stylistically fossilised; the Aiglon of today that we celebrate as a mature and successful enterprise may be seen in hindsight as an institution in turbulent adolescence. In 2114 Aiglon may exist in a way completely unimaginable to its current inhabitants.

Whatever timescale we use to frame our vision of the future, let us dare to imagine what lies ahead. We can delight in the nostalgic pleasure or historic interest of leafing through an old picture book; but let us not walk backwards into the future. Let us rather turn, look and allow ourselves to see a world not yet enshrined in images or defined by an immutable skyline.

HEADMASTER RICHARD MCDONALD

View from the mountain

Felix Od

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In 2114 Aiglon may exist in a way completely unimaginable to its current inhabitants’

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HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU

Julietta Dexter(Chantecler, 1987)

A I G L O N O L O G Y

Words: SANDRA HAURANT

Julietta Dexter (Chantecler, 1987) remembers there was plenty of fun to be had in the freezing air during the Aiglonian winter. “We used to go down to meditation with wet hair,” she says. “And, I don’t know why, but we used to wait for our hair to freeze and then break it off! It was so weird, it just came off in bits.”

These days, Julietta says her mountain pursuits are more orthodox – and while her work schedule is demanding (she is founder and co-director of The Communications Store, the London-based strategic brand development and public relations agency) she makes time to return to the mountains, sometimes in surprising ways.

“It may seem unlikely, but I have an amazing client who is a really keen skier and really enjoys skinning too,” she says. “We’ve been on a ski touring trip every year. For me it’s a meditation, a chance to completely detach.”

However, Julietta can remember being not quite so enthusiastic about the mountains as a teenager: “My two girls think walking in the mountains is just the most boring thing, and I can remember being like that too,” she says – but nonetheless, Aiglon got under her skin, leaving her grateful for friendships made, including her best girlfriend, Kate Ayrton (Chantecler, 1987), and the dedication of inspirational teachers whose support helped her to win a place at the University of Cambridge in 1988.

Today, however, she says that despite a demanding schedule, returning to the mountains is essential. “Now, whatever precious free time I have, it is where I want to be.”

“ We used to go down to meditation with wet hair, wait for it to freeze and then break it off!”

Photographs: MARCUS GINNS



What does it mean to be a successful Head of Curriculum? Some might

argue that if external examination results at Aiglon improve year-on-year, I am doing my job well. Indeed, results at Aiglon College have improved during my tenure and I am proud that the summer 2014 IGCSE and International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB) results were the best Aiglon results on record to date. Moreover, as a school we have continual initiatives afoot to ensure examination results remain a key focus.

However, to me, outstanding exam results alone, while essential, do not define an outstanding education. It is my firm belief that what makes a lesson outstanding is passion. For me, teaching is not just a noble profession but also a life-long passion. Indeed, watching outstanding teaching can be thrilling. One of the perks of my job is simply walking into classes (often unannounced) and being presented with the opportunity to learn new things as diverse as how natural selection works in the rabbit population, or how to program a computer using Kodu, or even how to secure a Roman toga.

Education is not just about content. In the not too distant past, a good school was often defined as one in which teachers talked and students frantically tried to write down as much “knowledge” as possible. Classroom doors were invariably shut and lessons built on the assumption that the teacher was the fount of all knowledge and wisdom. But whether talking about activities in the classroom, teaching methods, or student needs, things are changing – because the world has changed.

When I stalk the corridors of Exeter or the John Corlette Building in search of unsuspecting teachers and classes to observe, there are occasions when students are working in silence. But more often than not, classrooms are filled with an energy and collaboration designed to enable greater critical thinking and problem solving, increased adaptability, an encouragement of the

use of imagination and the development of a sense of curiosity, leading our students to use their academic initiative and thinking in an entrepreneurial way that involves technological collaboration outside the classroom. For learning to be truly effective it has to be not only a factual experience, but also an emotional, enticing and engaging one.

This sea change in the culture of learning is part of a movement towards learning that is reflective of the rapidly changing and ever more competitive world into which Aiglon students, most of who are genuine “digital natives”, will graduate.

Student-centric concepts such as the “flipped classroom” (where teachers assign videos or reading as prep, and utilise lesson time to concentrate on small group tasks and discussions allowing students to be supported, stretched and challenged where necessary), or viewing students as problem finders rather than problem solvers, are increasingly becoming the norm in our classrooms. The focus in this new educational paradigm is not teaching but learning.

Being passionate about learning, transferring our passion to our students, and working towards learning itself being transformational requires a huge investment of time and energy. Our recent staff development day was devoted to introducing and reinforcing new, emerging and proven methods in the day-to-day practice of teaching. The training, conducted by our own teachers, via digital links with other schools, and with experts around the world was both transformational and inspirational.

New ideas go hand in hand with developments in technology. It is essential that lessons and schools are not predicated upon the conventions of the world in which teachers grew up, but rather prepare students for a world that is not yet known!

Students need to be skilled and intuitive users of technology, able to live and work in a highly collaborative, interactive, open and continually evolving technological society. Lessons increasingly reflect this reality and student devices, from iPads to laptops, are an integral part of many lessons. Only this week, I observed students engaged and enthused while composing theme tune music on their Macs without picking up a musical instrument, and others video conferencing in a number of different languages with other students across the globe discussing books they have read.

At Aiglon, new developments in teaching are evident on every corridor and in every classroom. Our challenge is to couple this with traditional values and skills for life that go beyond the mathematics or history classrooms. The proposed new building programme will allow us to explore new creative learning environments and ensure that learning at Aiglon is cutting-edge and serves our students with the skills and love of learning they will need to live their lives. When students are passionately engaged and mesmerised by learning, their brains make new connections and build innovative schema. These in turn lead – naturally – to even better exam results!

STAFF ROOM

NICOLA SPARROWDeputy Head of Curriculum

Learning at the cutting edge

Marcus G

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“When students are passionately engaged and mesmerised by learning, their brains make new connections”

10 January 2015Gstaad!Parents, donors and alumni volunteers are invited to herald 2015 at a private party kindly hosted by current parents at their chalet in Gstaad.

21 January 2015Network in GenevaCome to the first of our new series of professional networking events – in a city near you soon.

February 2015Ski fixturesFédération International du Ski races in Chesières-Villars and Gryon take place 4-6 February.

February & March 2015Alumni ski weekendsJoin fellow alumni for the hugely popular ski weekends in Villars (6-8 February) during Volunteers and Donors Weekend and in the US in Utah (27 February – 1 March).

5-8 February 2015Volunteer and Donors WeekendVolunteers and donors are invited back to Aiglon to network and discuss the school’s development.

26-29 March 2015 Parents come to AiglonOn 26 March, the Parent Ambassador Council (PAC) will meet to discuss the school-parent partnership; and on 27 March, parents are invited to celebrate student achievement at Junior and Senior Prize Giving in Exeter Hall, and then attend parent and teacher meetings.

24-26 April 2015Domaine de Barbossi golfIskandar Safa, Aiglon parent and owner of the Domaine de Barbossi, kindly invites alumni and parents to attend a golf weekend on the Cote d’Azur. Mr Safa, who is generously hosting Aiglon entirely free of charge, challenges all participants to make a gift in lieu to the John Corlette Scholarship Fund. www.aiglonlife.ch/jcs For more information please visit www.aiglonlife.ch/golf

27 June 2015GraduationAs in 2014, Aiglon and Beau Soleil celebrate graduation on the same day. Accommodation in Chesières-Villars will be limited, so make your reservations early.

AROUND THE MOUNTAIN

Emeric Hair Salon


Words: SANDRA HAURANTPhotos: MARCUS GINNS

influence of the school. “The school really brings the area to life,” he says. “Huemoz was a mountain village that had been deserted by the descendents of mountain farmers. There were a lot of empty houses. But thanks to the people who work at Aiglon College and other schools, who have bought houses there and restored them, the village has been reborn. There are families with children, it is wonderful.” The significant English-speaking community around the school is also very lively, says Emeric: “As a personal example, a while ago I was invited to a traditional Burns Night celebration at the house of a Scottish neighbour. We were welcomed by him wearing his kilt, with a dagger in his sock. It was very different to anything we are used to here. I thought it was wonderful to do something like that here in the mountains!”

Emeric Szabo took over Villars’s hairdressing salon in 1980 and has been an essential member of Aiglon’s wider community ever since. His regular clients include many of the school’s familiar faces, and he has styled and cut the hair of countless teachers, students and their families, who even today, he says, keep him up to date on the comings and goings at the school. “They talk to me about when they are going to do expeditions and other things that have been going on at the school,” Emeric explains. “I hear a lot of good things about their activities, I have a lot of clients who have moved to Villars and who choose Aiglon College for their children and they are very happy,” he says. As well as the current Aiglon community, Emeric has frequently welcomed alumni returning to the school, and says he has coiffed several generations of Aiglon families. “I often see people coming back to the school. I remember one American family: I did the hair of the father and the mother, and of the children. The parents have passed away but from time-to-time the children, who are now grown up, come back. It’s nice to see those generations.” Emeric’s salon is right in the centre of Villars, but his home is in nearby Huemoz, a village that has experienced a transformation over the past 30 years, largely thanks to the revitalising

Above: Emeric in his salon.

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JANUARY – JUNE 2015

For further information or to book an event visit www.aiglonlife.ch/events

Diary

Left:The style station

“The school really brings the area to life. Huemoz was a mountain village deserted by farmers... but the village has really been reborn”

Left, above, right: The salon zings with colour.

Bottom: The team



PRIVATE PASSION

George Logie

I try to not force this wonderful instrument upon anyone, and will either carefully choose my moment

to play, or wait to be invited,” says George Logie, mathematics teacher and former Houseparent of La Baïta.

Mr Logie has been playing the bagpipes since he was a student at St Andrews University, but says he did not start playing properly until he taught at The Edinburgh Academy, aged 27. “The headmaster there taught me for two years, until I moved to the rival school,” he says.

The bagpipes are part of Mr Logie’s Scottish heritage: choosing to learn to play them came naturally. “I have always worn a kilt, and when wearing a kilt a lot of people would assume that I also played the pipes. I enjoy being Scottish, so it seemed sensible to learn to play.”

Regular practice is essential, and Mr Logie steps up his sessions when there is a performance on the horizon. “I practise every day if I have a perfor-mance within the next two weeks, but sadly do not practise as often when I do not have that urgency.” It is easier now that he lives in his own chalet with a garage, he says. “At La Baïta, everyone could hear me.”

Aiglon’s location means Mr Logie’s performances get some dramatic

backdrops. “I have played the pipes on top of Les Diablerets and other mountains after skinning up with a school group,” he says. “Bagpipes certainly sound better out in the open. I have also played beside lakes. Their sound travels quite far across water.

“My biggest annual performance is as part of the Hallebardiers de Villars in the Swiss Day parade on 1 August. We march from Chesières up through Villars, wearing red and white, before a crowd of thousands. I also run an annual Burns Supper for the school and the local area.”

A skill like this is worth passing on, and Mr Logie is happy to have been able to teach Aiglon students and others.

“Dominique Meyer (Alpina, 2013) learnt with me from the age of 10 until he finished school, and has promised to come back to play one day. I taught an adult two years ago. He went from complete beginner to performing his first tune in nine months.” And this year, three boys and a girl, all aged 12, are having weekly lessons with Mr Logie. “Maybe we will have a pipe band in 2016,” he says.

Mathematics teacher

Marcus G

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Interview: SANDRA HAURANT

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“ I have played the pipes on top of Les Diablerets and other mountains after skinning with a school group”

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1 Harness2 Avalance search probe 3 Sleeve of avalanche search probe4 Couteaux5 Telescopic ski pole6 Ski touring skis7 Ski touring skins8 Avalanche shovel9 Avalanche transceiver

LAID BARE

Laid bareSki Touring

Photographs: MARCUS GINNS

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The Challenge

“ It’s a mass engagement event that focuses on the concept of challenge, which is right at the heart of our guiding principles”

Richard McDonald Headmaster

Twice a year Aiglon staff and students run up the mountain simply for the thrill of the chase.

Autumn Course (Senior)

Length11km

Height gain600m

StartSolalex

TerrainMountainous

Drinks1800m

FinishSolalex

Av. time2h 25min

Autumn Course (Junior)

Length5km

Height gain400m

StartSolalex

TerrainMountainous

Drinks1700m

FinishSolalex

Av. time1h 30m

Summer Course

Length8km

Height gain800m


To be clear: the Aiglon Challenge is most definitely not a race. The biannual all-school run high into the Alps, covering

distances of more than 10km (6 miles) and with climbs of up to 600m, is not about who comes first, or matching the fastest speed: rather, it is a chance to set a personal best and to savour the thrill of collective endeavour. And that is why, since 2009, in the autumn and summer terms, the entire school, youngest and oldest, staff and students alike, runs, jogs or walks up the mountain. Why? Because for Aiglonians, taking on a challenge together is important. “It is a mass engagement event that brings together our whole community for an occasion that focuses on the concept of challenge, which lies right at the heart of our guiding principles,” explains the Headmaster, Richard McDonald. “By creating a challenge in the mountains at the start of each term, we engage again with the extraordinary natural beauty of our setting, as well as the physical challenge created by alpine terrain.”

Aiglon’s runners do not follow an easy route. In the autumn, participants cover approximately 11km of mountainous terrain, with a height gain of around 600m (juniors cover a marginally shorter, but equally challenging, course covering 5km and ascending 400m). In the summer, the going is steeper: the course runs over 8km with a height gain of around 800m. But despite the inevitable struggle that everyone feels at some point along the route, the atmosphere is unique, as Tim Haynes, mathematics teacher and Delaware Houseparent, explains. “It’s a complete pageant of colours and singing. Some see it as a race, but for others it is a social event,” he says. “We are uplifted by the amazing scenery and unique sense of camaraderie. It is rare to see an entire school in such high spirits, enjoying the outdoors. “Everyone takes part, from my eight year-old daughter to ultra-competitive teachers,” he says. “And although I feared the queues outside the medical centre would be long as students tried to get out of the Challenge, I was pleasantly surprised. For most, it is a great day out, a chance to see the mountains in the summer and to spend time together as a whole school with a single objective.” Of course, that is not to say that the whole school relishes the Challenge – at least not beforehand, anyway, as school guardian, Tijana Suvacarov (Clairmont, Upper Sixth), admits wryly. “I know that some students genuinely look forward to the Challenge and want to beat their last year’s record – but some students dread it!” she says. “The atmosphere is usually great, and particularly good in the autumn because everyone is full of energy after the summer holidays. Although the weather is always important. This year the weather was windy and cold, and many of us were anxious – but in the end everyone managed to do it, and that is a great feeling.”


The feeling you get crossing the finish line is just unexplainable. We stretch our limits and get out of our comfort zones”

Tijana Suvacarov(Clairmont, Upper Sixth)

With such a large number of people participating, it is not surprising that the effort put into organising the Challenge is commensurate with the physical effort involved in running up and down a mountain. “The logistics themselves are enormous, with coaches and minibuses, first aid and refreshment stations dotted all over the mountain, scorers and marshals at every corner,” says Mr Haynes. But for Mr McDonald, the opportunity to focus on effort, rather than competition, is invaluable. “Students, and the many staff who also participate, are expected to finish the course within a set time period, with individuals pushing themselves to their own limits,” he says. “This means that there may be some outstanding athletes who complete the course in an impressively short time, and other, less athletic, students who nonetheless accomplish something significant simply by completing the challenging course. It is often the case that the most impressive personal achievements are not those of the first to finish.” There is, however, one notable caveat. Tradition has it that all participants must finish in front of the Headmaster, whom Mr Haynes describes as “an ominous presence sweeping at the back”. Mr McDonald confirms: “Students must complete the course, which typically takes up to three hours, ahead of me; I act as the ‘back marker’. Those who do not succeed may face the prospect of repeating the exercise one week later!”

And after all this effort and sweat, there comes the reward: the Aiglon Challenge barbecue. Does the thought of supper help to keep legs moving as weary runners get closer to the finishing line? It’s certainly an incentive, says Tijana. “It makes for a positive atmosphere, and encourages some students to be the quickest and skip the queue.” During the barbecue, there are presentations for runners and the school comes together to celebrate this impressive group success. “There is a sense of pride both individually and for the whole school to have been able to take time out on the mountain together,” says Mr Haynes. And whether you came first, last or somewhere in between, completing the Aiglon Challenge (ahead of Mr McDonald) is a very special thing. “The feeling you get crossing the finish line is just indescribable,” says Tijana. “This year I was one of the last ones to come back, but still I was very proud of myself. This was my third challenge and I didn’t really run at any point because I like to take it easy, walk and jog and talk to people along the way. For me, time doesn’t matter. As long as I do it, I am happy. At the end of the day, I think we all get the main point of doing it, which is to stretch our limits, get out of our comfort zones and come together in a show of shared school spirit.”

The sense of camaraderie is unique. It’s rare to see an entire school in such high spirits enjoying the outdoors”

Tim Haynes (Mathematics teacher and Delaware Houseparent)

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A I G L O N O L O G Y“

Tim MilnerHead of Junior School Expeditions

and PE teacher

Paul WrightHead of Expeditions and

Chemistry teacher

You don’t really know somebody properly until you’ve spent two days climbing up a mountain with them,” says Aiglon student Oliver Patrick (Belvedere,

Lower Sixth). “The mountains let you know so much more about your friends – and yourself – than you could ever have discovered just hanging out with them.”

Thousands of Aiglonians past and present will identify with those sentiments. For 65 years, students have been daunted, excited, challenged, exhilarated, and sometimes terrified by the school’s unique expeditions – and have learned things along the way they could never have been taught in a classroom.

“You see people at their best, and at their very worst,” says Sally Wright (Clairmont, Lower Sixth). “I’ve been upset, frustrated, depressed on expeditions. I’ve made mistakes, shouted at people, been shouted at and had some pretty intense arguments and really bad fall-outs. But other times I’ve been sitting in a hut on the side of a mountain with the same people and we’ve laughed until our sides ached. There is nothing like an expedition to bond and bring you together.”

And these memories last a lifetime. “It must have rained sometimes, but in my mind’s eye I just see perfect sunny days with my greatest friends,” says Richard Murray Wells (Delaware, 1992). “We’d swim to a pontoon and see the sun go down, or watch from the Dents du Midi as a shadow crept towards us across the valley until we were the only people left in sunlight. Such special memories gave me a sense of adventure I’ve had ever since.”

But all of this seems unimaginable to new students facing their first ever expedition. Many children come to Aiglon having never climbed a mountain, stepped into a pair of skis or even slept in a tent – and the learning curve for them is as steep as the scenery.

The expeditionExpeditions are a unique – and unifying – phenomenon. Peter Taylor Whiffen investigates why expeditions mean so much to Aiglonians.

PhotographsMARCUS GINNS

On 16 November, members of the Junior School completed an abseiling expedition between Frenières and Les Plans sur Bex.


to do anything but we encourage them to try. Some go through two or three minutes of blinding terror – but what a fantastic achievement when they do it.”

And it is not just about facing fears, but conquering the unknown. “One of our students was from Pakistan and the first time we went out to the foot of the mountain, he just fell to his knees and was touching the snow, picking it up, tasting it. He’d never seen it before,” says Mr Wright. “Within 10 minutes he was clutching an ice axe, had crampons on and was walking up this snowy mountain, stepping over glaciers. That was a very special moment.”

The teachers, inevitably, have a fund of such standout memories. Mr Milner recalls a recent ex to Solalex when one of his students fell through a cattle grid. “He didn’t know how to walk across it, slipped and was actually trapped above the knee,” he says. “We thought we’d have to call out the pompiers (fire service) but by rolling up his trouser leg and applying a lot of suncream, we finally got him free.”

All of which proves the mountains do not just teach the students to be resourceful – for all the teachers’ vast knowledge, every ex adds to their experience too. “About two years ago I took 16 children camping in Taveyanne and we were hit with the worst storm I’ve ever seen here,” says Mr Milner. “The lightning was so powerful that whenever there was a flash it seemed to go from nighttime to daylight and back again. Even I was apprehensive. Then I heard girls talking in one of the other tents and there was a lot of nervous anxiety, even sniffling. So I put on my waterproofs and went over in the pitch black to reassure them. Just as I got to their tent another lightning strike showed up my silhouette against the side of the tent and they screamed the house down! Then I told them it was me, the screams turned to giggles and they couldn’t stop laughing. At least that stopped them being nervous!”

Some expedition experiences, of course, are common to all Aiglonians. “Blisters!” says Sally. “It’s almost a rite of passage. Coming down from the girls’ high ex at the start of this term, stopping at the hut on the way down was like a huge Compeed festival as Miss Dickinson handed out the blessed plasters.”

Camping also has its regular recognisable hazards. “The tents we use are quite old, bright orange, they always smell a bit mouldy, and the best bit is definitely the sides,” says Oliver. “They’re also not very waterproof, and if it rains you are likely to get quite wet. Oh, and they often have parts missing like pegs or even poles, so improvisation is sometimes needed.”

And it is not just the equipment that can prove challenging. “Tent mates are another entertainment,” says Sally. “You might wind up with any of: snorers, kickers, wrigglers, sleep talkers or moaners. One high ex found Mr Wright sleeping outside in a tent on the side of a mountain, because he knew he would never have heard the end of our teasing if he had slept in the hut with us.”

And when students are tired, blistered, wet, cold, and just generally fed up, that is when they learn the most about themselves. “We teach them to be resourceful,” says Mr Wright. “Things can go wrong – for example, poor navigation gets us lost or someone burns the food or loses the matches or forgets their lunch. But I tell them: ‘Expeditions are a great way to learn to solve problems, sometimes problems that we bring upon ourselves.’ On the mountain you have to be self-reliant and deal with the consequences of your actions. The mountain exposes you, and there’s learning to be had.”

But get past all that – and students do – and then there is the view. “My favourite place is Solalex, with the great views – and the pigs!” says Egor. Sally loves the shelter next to the Grand Paradis site with its central fireplace and surrounding benches, while Oliver relishes the routes at Coufin for their “feeling of being alone without any civilization”. Mr Wright’s favourite location is the Dents du Midi: “The sights, the sounds, the smells – cowbells, cow poo… it’s pastoral bliss. And it dominates the skyline we see from Aiglon”.

But for all the spectacular scenery, the one overriding sensation students and staff tend to take from their expeditions is simply that of close friendship. “The mountain is beautiful and the experiences the children get are amazing,” says Mr Wright. “But I genuinely think the real appeal for many is just being out with their buddies. Students love exploring with their mates.”

The children concur. “I already know I’ve made friends for life on the mountain,” says Zadie. Egor reckons “the mountains bring you closer together”. Sally loves the campfires because “on top of the warmth and peacefulness, it’s social time. Catching up with people, chatting, laughing, stories and of course marshmallows – and Mr Wright singing random songs and changing the words.”

Oliver agrees: “Things that really stand out in the expeditions are not always standing on top of the mountain or arriving at the destination, it’s usually the way there that is more fun.”

And these are the memories that stay with every Aiglonian. “Of course all students sometimes complain when they’re on an expedition,” says Mr Wright. “But even those who always moaned, when they’ve graduated and come back years later they have great big grins and the expeditions are all they talk about. They’ll say: ‘Do you remember when so and so fell over, or we slid down there, or this happened?’ They can’t recall the name of the guy who taught them physics, but they’ll always remember lying down in the snow and looking up at the stars.”

“Even if you’ve been camping with your mum and dad, everyone faces something new as soon as they get to Aiglon,” says Tim Milner, Head of Junior School Expeditions. “Almost immediately after joining the school – and most of the new children are only nine – they’re sleeping in barns, in forests, out in the open.”

Zadie Sparrow (La Casa, Second Form) remembers the excitement of her first expedition – due less to the surroundings than to her newly found independence. “I had camped in the Girl Guides so I knew how to put a tent up, but the excitement was about being together with my friends for the first time,” says the 13-year-old. “It was autumn and there was a big group of us – it was good! I already know I have made friends for life on the mountain.”

Mr Milner loves the exuberance of a group of up to 20 nine year-olds taking their first adventurous steps. “There’s a lot of nervous excitement, but we rarely have to rein in that excitement, and I don’t want to,” he says. “I want them to let themselves go, run around, jump in puddles – the environment is there to be enjoyed. During the week they’re sat in a classroom working and they can’t wait to be outside. I love seeing them release all that pent-up energy by making as much noise as possible!”

The noise is what Sally remembers from her first overnight ex. “We had to carry our own rucksack with all our stuff in it: tent, sleeping mat, sleeping bag, food. A first for me,” she says. “We went up to Bretaye on the train then walked to the camp site, pitched our tents, and started a fire. Then in groups of about six, they drove us out about 200 metres along the road, and asked us to walk back with our head torches. It was at the time that the guys decided that it was the perfect moment to find out who could scream the loudest!”

Egor Shmatok (La Baïta, Second Form) recalls the excitement of his first foray into the mountains. “It felt like such a big adventure,” says the 12 year-old. “It was a very hot autumn day and we stopped at 5pm to make dinner – I think it was pasta. I’d never cooked before, so it felt like a great achievement.”

Many new students face their first ex just days after arriving, but their first term on the mountain in particular is programmed to build confidence gradually. “The first ex is a daytrip, a walk – the food is often provided,” says Mr Milner. “And then on the first overnight trip the children sleep under cover of a barn or even a mountain hut. Then we move on to camping and they learn to cook for themselves.”

That test of self-sufficiency can be as challenging as the climbs, he adds. “I took a group to Solalex last year and we had some eggs, so I told the children to decide how they wanted to cook them – fry them, boil them perhaps – and then to go and do it. A few minutes later one of the lads came back and said: ‘Sir… how do you crack an egg?’ He was legitimately unsure – he’d never done it before.”

But it is the conquering of challenges, whether it is breaking an egg or climbing a rock face, that makes the adventures so rewarding for both students and the staff who lead them, says Head of Expeditions Paul Wright. “Children learn the reality of self sufficiency,” he says. “You have a problem, you learn to solve it. We’ll be up in the mountains round the campfire and new students keep coming up to me at 8pm, 9pm, 10pm, 11pm asking for the toilet. The answer’s always the same: ‘There aren’t any, you have to go in the woods.’ They think they can’t possibly do this but eventually they see it is their only choice. So they do it, then come back and say: ‘You know, that wasn’t so bad.’”

And conquering one fear encourages students to vanquish others. “If we’re rock climbing, we make sure the children are absolutely safe,” says Mr Wright. “However, some do come with a fear of heights and are petrified. We don’t force anyone


What was your favourite moment on expedition? Join the debate at www.aiglonlife.ch/aiglonstories.

Opposite page:1: Zadie Sparrow2: Sally Wright3: Oliver Patrick

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INT – FILM SET, LATE 70s. MARK, a young boy, is wandering through the forest-like studio: wires trail all over the floor like creepers. Cameras and big, old-fashioned monitors are everywhere. Off-screen, a 3rd assistant director is issuing orders. From Mark’s low-down POV the equipment looms huge, as do the people wandering in and out of shot: camera crew in flared jeans, glamorous starlet extras in low-cut dresses. We follow MARK through the forest until he reaches the set itself: it is a pool of light. James Bond star ROGER MOORE is sitting on a sofa. He smiles…

As the son of legendary racing driver Jackie Stewart, the young Mark Stewart (Belvedere, 1986), now a documentary maker and founder of Mark Stewart

Productions, met a lot of famous people – Roger Moore was just one. But for him, the fascination was not so much the stardust as the backstage reality: the camerawork and trick photography that convinced the cinemagoer that Bond had just driven over a cliff. The personality that could catapult an average actor to international stardom. The drive that took a sportsman to victory over and over again.“It’s something about seeing the inner workings,” he says. “How the whole thing is made and how it’s staged. How everything is built and moved and created.”

Mark’s interest in the world of theatre and film was sparked by his drama teacher at Aiglon, Jean Benson, who sadly passed away this year. “She gave me a lot of confidence and inspiration,” says Mark. “She made me feel like I was good at something.”

But he also had curiosity, and it’s perhaps that same curiosity which is responsible not just for Mark’s career choice, but also for the popularity that feature-length stories enjoy today. All human life is there: Sugar Man’s reclusive rock star, Man on Wire’s obsessed tightrope walker, the sweet primary schoolchildren of Être et Avoir, Restrepo’s hard-bitten soldiers in Afghanistan fighting Taliban attacks and boredom, the softly-spoken

Words:LUCY JOLINIllustrations:OLIvIer KUGLer

In 90 minutesFrom Sugar Man to Restrepo, long-form documentary is breaking new boundaries – and four Aiglonians are leading the charge.



It is attractive not just for audiences but also for documentary makers. For Cecilia , it is a chance to go deeper into character development and gain more freedom to play with flashback, or switching between time periods. But not every subject suits a longer running time. Gauri Chadha’s (Chantecler, 2004) short documentary, Gawah, examines the aftermath of the 1947 India-Pakistan partition, up to the Mumbai terrorist attacks of 2011. She is currently seeking a distributor for the film, which has won more than 13 awards on the international film circuit. “You make the film three times over: when you first conceive it, then when it is in production and then again post-production,” she says. “I found that particular film demanded a short form: if it had gone on any further then it wouldn’t have resonated the way it did.”

She is currently in post-production for a short documentary on children with special needs and, she says, the opposite is happening. “This film is crying out to be a longer feature. So I’m going to make it as a long-form. It needs that time and that space. It needs the audience to experience the world of the children. This narrative is demanding it. At the editing table – that is when the truth really comes out. I have 45 hours of rushes, so I have plenty of material. For me, the short form is actually more challenging. You don’t have the luxury of time.”

But how do you even begin to whittle down that material? It all comes back to story, says Gauri – and being brutal. You can never show

everything. “You have to understand what moves your story forward. One of my mentors once said to me that whatever your favourite shot is, get rid of it – because it is guaranteed that it won’t be moving your story forward.”

Technology has also played a part in the rise of the long-form. A few years ago a feature-length documentary would have called for a large budget and a camera crew. But when Searching for Sugar Man’s director Malik Bendjelloul ran out of money for Super 8 film, he finished the movie using his smartphone and the 8mm Vintage Camera iPhone app. The film won the Oscar for Best Feature Length Documentary at the 85th Academy Awards.

“It’s cheaper today,” points out documentary filmmaker Farzin Farzaneh (Delaware, 1979). “People who would never have dreamed of being able to make a movie can do it almost without leaving their house. With the internet and digital technology, it has become possible for people to make a documentary sitting behind their desks. In some cases, they don’t even have to go out and shoot anything. If you look at YouTube, half the videos are documentaries, documenting lives. They might not realise that they are making documentaries, but that is what they are. I think that is where certain lines become blurred.”

And there is a deeper level to that accessibility, he says, that goes beyond just being able to down-load an app. Stories themselves are more easily found. “You can find out about parts of the world you’ve never travelled to and see them much more closely. So we have more stories at our fingertips and there are so many out there. There is such a diversity in human society and human culture.”

It is also simpler to get these films shown: the internet makes it easier than ever for documentaries to get out there. However, there is a danger in that, says Farzin: feature-length ‘documentaries’ which purport to show ‘the truth’ behind events such as the 9/11 attacks can be made by amateurs exploiting the power of film not to expose the truth, but to distort it.

But whether it is on the cinema screen, on TV, or via YouTube on a smartphone, the immersive power of the long-form documentary is unlikely to diminish. As long as there are real stories out there waiting to be told, there will be an audience eager to listen for as long as it takes. You cannot rush someone’s life, after all. Mark’s latest feature-length documentary, The Last Man on the Moon, tells the story of Captain Eugene Cernan, the last astronaut to set foot on the moon in 1972.

“It’s a man’s journey through the Apollo 17 mission, but it’s also a human story,” Mark points out. “It’s him as a person, and it’s about his wife and kids. When we found him, he was quietly living on a ranch in Kerville, Texas, raising longhorns, and his first reaction when we asked him if he would participate was: ‘What would you want to do a thing like that for?’ With such a remarkable life, a 90-minute documentary still seems short. There’s always something more you could say. There’s always something more that ends up on the cutting room floor – and you wish you could put it in.”

The Last Man on the Moon will be released in 2015 by Mark Stewart Productions. www.markstewartproductions.com

Cecilia Peck’s new documentary, Brave Miss World, is now streaming on Netflix www.bravemissworld.com

To find out more about Gauri Chadha’s Gawah, visit www.gawahthefilm.com

murderers describing untold horrors in The Act of Killing. These documentaries are not fringe or art house fare: they make money. But they also set the cultural agenda. They take us to the ultimate backstage – inside people’s lives. And those lives are colourful, weird, horrifying, beautiful and truly stranger than fiction.

The popularity of the form does not surprise Cecilia Peck (Clairmont, 1975), producer and director of this year’s Emmy-nominated documentary Brave Miss World and the Oscar-winning documentary Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing. “‘Long-form’ is regular movie length, or shorter,” she points out. “Audiences are used to watching 90-minute films, and documentary has the added drama of being real. They’re just as thrilling, dramatic and surprising as fiction films, only you can’t say ‘it’s just a movie!’ Think about films like The Cove, Restrepo, Man on Wire. These films take you into incredibly dramatic life and death situations, where you don’t know if the characters, the filmmakers, the dolphins, the planet, the soldiers, whoever it is, will come out alive. And on top of it, you’ve learned something you didn’t know before. I think fiction films pale in comparison to documentaries.”

Filming real events is nothing new. In 1897, Enoch Rector of the Kinetoscope Exhibition Company filmed The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight, a boxing match which would have run for 90 to 100 minutes. But shaping this material into coherent narrative came later.

Scottish filmmaker John Grierson is credited with inventing the word “documentary” in his review of Robert Flaherty’s 1926 film Moana. As the poster for the film proclaimed, Moana was “The colossal achievement of 20 months’ patient work… the intimate drama of life unspoiled by the sham of civilisation; laid in nature’s richest and most glamorous setting, Robert Flaherty’s true picture-romance of life and love in the South Seas.”

Lacking any real drama, Moana’s 86 minutes dragged and the film flopped. But more than 100 years later, the legacy of Flaherty’s “drama of life” is more apparent than ever. Although the feature-length documentary has always been with us in various incarnations – travelogue, battle re-enactment, propaganda film, cinéma vérité – it was not always considered to have the pulling power of a fictional film.

All that changed when, in the late ’80s, a journalist called Michael Moore arrived back in his hometown of Flint, Michigan, to find it slowly decaying following a decision by General Motors to pull out of the city and relocate jobs to Mexico. Moore mortgaged his house and ran bingo nights to finance his documentary, Roger & Me, in which he charted his quest to confront GM chairman Roger Smith. It hit a nerve. Made for $140,000, it went on to earn more than $7.7m (CHF 7.3m) worldwide. Moore’s subsequent documentaries, including Bowling for Columbine, his scathing attack on US gun culture, have gone on to earn more than $341m worldwide, and the long-form documentary is now a cinema fixture.

You can find out about parts of the world you’ve never travelled to and see them much more closely. So we have more stories at our fingertips”

Farzin Farzaneh(Delaware, 1979)

Many thanks to The Mill for their kind assistance.

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While Wonka’s visitors depended on finding a golden ticket secreted in a bar of chocolate,

the six lucky Aiglon chocolatiers were chosen because they had worked hard during their last year as juniors, says teacher and La Baïta Houseparent Laura Hamilton.

Arriving in Nyon, the students were greeted by founder of the family business, Michel Rapp, who explained where cocoa is produced, how the beans are roasted and the different ingredients that go to make up the dark, milk and white varieties of this most Alpine of treats. The students then rolled up their sleeves, got out their spoons and spatulas, and set about pouring, piping, stirring, spooning, dripping and dusting.

For 14 year-old Yulia Mochalnikova (Clairmont), who says Swiss chocolates are superior to her native Russian confectionery, the best part of the trip was producing sweets. “We made chocolate boats and filled them with our own chocolates. We spilled plenty of chocolate but nobody minded – everyone was just so excited.”

Fellow Russian 12 year-old Senik Grigoryan (Alpina), who admits that he prefers gummy bears to chocolate, loved making sweets he could take back to Aiglon to share with staff and students.

“Stirring the hot mixture in the bowl was brilliant, and after we stirred we poured it into little shapes, put it into the freezer and at the end of trip we could take it away,” he says. “The best part was making the chocolate and putting it into bags to take away. We brought them back and I gave mine to the Houseparents to try, and to my friends, and they all enjoyed it.”

Perhaps with the grand scale of Willy Wonka’s operation in mind, both Yulia and Senik were struck by the intimacy of the Rapp family’s business. “It was so small, which surprised me. I thought chocolate factories were all big,” says Yulia. And as well as leaving Rapp with boatloads of chocolate to share with staff and fellow students, Mrs Hamilton believes Yulia, Senik and the other visitors also learned valuable lessons about the local economy.

“Chocolate is an iconic Swiss product,” she says, “so it’s good for students to know something about how it’s made and see that high-quality products can come not from big factories but from small family-run businesses near Aiglon.”

Sweet spot

BEHIND THE SCENES

Words:BECKY ALLENPhotographs:MARCUS GINNS

It may lack Willy Wonka’s lickable wallpaper, lemonade swimming pools, and cows that make chocolate milk, but for six Aiglon students, a spring sojourn to Nyon to visit local chocolaterie Rapp certainly hits the sweet spot.

Above:Michel Rapp, founder of the Rapp chocolate business.

Right: The chocolate machine...mmmmm!


Childhood memories are magical things: sometimes solid, sometimes slippery, they can be conjured up by the strangest

situations. So it was for Belgian social worker, Marc Vincé, who in an idle moment 10 years ago turned to the internet in search of his past. “It was curiosity and childhood sentiment that incited me,” he says. “Because one can find almost anything on the web, so why not Alpina?”

On Aiglon College’s website he found news of Alpina’s renovation. Describing the discovery of old letters from Belgian parents to their children, and showing pictures of the bedrooms’ Mickey Mouse wallpaper, the story triggered an avalanche of childhood memories.

Shortly after the Second World War, Belgian orphans, or children whose parents had fought in the Resistance, were sent to Switzerland to recuperate. “I was one of them,” says Vincé, who between 1949 and 1952 spent a winter and two summers at Alpina, which, before becoming part of Aiglon, was a sanatorium.

He vividly recalls his first journey there, in November 1949. “My mother couldn’t take me to the station – it was too much for her. So my great aunt handed me over to supervisors on the night train from Brussels to Basel,” he remembers. “As a Dutch-speaking six year-old, with staff who spoke only French, it was horrible and I wept violently.”

But compared to war-torn Antwerp, Chesières seemed magical. “Everything in Belgium was dirty and neglected; reconstruction had hardly begun,” says Vincé. “In Switzerland the buildings were beautiful, the streets were clean and the air was pure. During my first stay there was an incredible amount of snow. And Santa Claus visited, bringing us gifts.”

Illustrations: MADS BERGWords: BECKY ALLEN

Hereis health

Visitors have been coming to enjoy the health-giving energy of the Alps for almost 150 years. We explore the history of vitality in and around Aiglon.

Alpina gave us this beautiful idea – a healthy mind in a healthy body, and I gained an everlasting affinity with the Alps, the fresh air and the beautiful nature”Marc Vincé

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Spending as much time as possible outdoors, the children’s regime consisted of gymnastique en plein air, morning lessons, and play in the afternoons. “The front yard was full of wooden toys, including climbing frames and swings. Agile as monkeys, we climbed to the top bars to look out at the scenery,” he says. “It was a real children’s paradise.”

The dullest part of the day – after lunch – was two hours of compulsory rest: “As a young boy I was hugely annoyed, lying on my bed looking at the ceiling and the walls, so I studied the Mickey Mouse wallpaper in minute detail. Those cartoon characters became etched on my memory.”

Like Vincé, John Corlette’s first visits to Switzerland were for his health. Dogged by illness and lung infections since childhood, Corlette spent two years at the Alpine College at Arveyes, just outside Villars. And a key factor in choosing Chesières for his school was the area’s healthy climate, fêted by visitors for many decades.

In his 1883 guidebook, Principal Southern and Swiss Health Resorts, William Marcet described the air at Villars as “extremely pure and bracing, and admirably fitted for weak children… When the weather is set fair in the summer, a visit to Villars will leave none but the most pleasing recollection”.

Indeed, during the 19th century, thousands of visitors flocked to Swiss alpine resorts in search of better health. Initially, invalids spent summers in spa towns, taking the waters at St Moritz and Tarasp, where each spring’s chemistry was connected with different cures.

Writing about Tarasp in 1872, Leonard William Sedgwick said its water was “bright and sparkling, and when taken fresh and cold, is of not unpleasant, pungent, salty taste”, and he recommended it for everything from tuberculosis and scrofula (a TB infection of lymph nodes), to syphilis and constipation.

But as summer left Switzerland, so did the sick. Until, that is, Dr Alexander Spengler arrived in Davos in 1853. Noticing that the locals rarely suffered from lung diseases, in 1866 he set up the Davos Kurhaus, where TB patients might benefit from winter in the Alps.

News of the Kurhaus spread rapidly: by 1879-80, 800 patients were wintering in Davos. Spengler had turned the country into the world’s sanatorium, overturning the prevailing medical orthodoxy that in winter, the seaside was the proper place for invalids.

But the Alps were not only a haven for conva-lescents. In the second half of the 19th century they became an increasingly popular destination for the hale and hearty, driven by a belief in the health benefits of outdoor pursuits, fresh air and mountain life. Indeed, the first tourists arrived in Villars around 1850, staying in small family-run guest houses and chalets. But all that changed in 1860 with the construction of the first purpose-built hotel, the Grand Muveran. A place of extraordinary luxury, the hotel offered its guests a theatre and concert hall, a tennis court, croquet lawn and gymnastics, and by 1887 its dining room – hung with rich, thick woollen curtains – could accommodate 260 diners.

Nonetheless, recounting life in Villars in 1900, Francois Isabel – who lived in Chesières between 1897 and 1910 – remembered that Villars in winter had just 30 residents. “Five minutes below the old hamlet was an elegant summer village, highlife, new buildings, a tidy station, a modern Villars, made up of hotels, rustic chalets, surrounded by lawns, flowerbeds, roads and paths.”

Developments at Villars paralleled those in many other Swiss villages and by 1912, Switzerland had 100 winter resorts. Published the same year, the tourist guide Winter in Switzerland observed: “Winter in Switzerland! In the modern world of sport, this has become a veritable watchword knowing no limits… The number of our winter guests – be they for the practice and enjoyment of sport, or for recovery, or convalescence, from serious injury – reaches many thousands.”

Alongside the cures, winter sports formed a central plank of the new alpine resorts, which soon offered skating and bandy (or ice hockey) rinks, toboggan and bobsleigh runs – all prescribed by a patient’s local doctor, because exercise was an essential part of the cure.

So, too, was escape from urbanisation and industrialisation. According to a 1921 guide to Swiss sanatoria: “Greed of gold and love of luxury, rush and hustle, haste and unrest seem to have given the death blow to calmness of mind and repose of body… [and] many chronic diseases are to be traced to this neglect of a suitable balance between effort and recreation.”

Although antibiotics developed in the ’50s heralded the decline of the Swiss sanatoria, modern visitors still look to the mountains for health. John Corlette saw outdoor activity as essential for his students’ intellectual, emotional and spiritual development – an outlook that endures today. According Aiglon’s Health Care Services Manager Diana Iasillo: “Part of the school’s ethos is mind, body and spirit, and we aim to develop all three in tandem. Educating students about healthy lifestyles is vital, because by the time you are treating chronic illnesses, it’s often too late.”

That ethos is echoed by one of a new generation of alpine health clinics, Lonhea in Villars. Opened in 2013 by Dr Michel Golay, the clinic focuses on so-called “diseases of civilisation”. “Things like high blood pressure and type II diabetes – all the diseases that kill you slowly but that medicine doesn’t fix, merely manages,” he explains.

Using a combination of exercise and diet to improve gut microflora, the natural environment is as important a part of therapy today as it was more than 150 years ago. “To me, the link with the past is the link with nature,” Dr Golay says. “Contact with nature is essential for proper health.”

Which is one of the most valuable lessons Vincé learned. “It strengthened me, and made me healthy. Alpina gave us this beautiful idea – a healthy mind in a healthy body, and I gained an everlasting affinity with the Alps, with fresh air and beautiful nature.”

Diana IasilloHealthcare Services

Manager

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39 Hello Aiglon!41 Why I love...42 Aiglon Life45 In pictures46 Sports48 Hitched

Say ‘Hello Aiglon!’ by sending a postcard to Aiglon Magazine, Aiglon College, 1885 Chesières, Switzerland.


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To find out more about the work of MICS please visit www.rorqual.com and www.aiglonlife.ch/aiglonstories

I love Art lessons, but Art lessons don’t always love me. There are times when I’ll have five ideas and others when I can’t think of anything. There are times when it is the most frustrating part of your day. When that happens you just have to accept it and come back fresh the next time.

Sometimes, just working with the materials feels like a creative act. It can be difficult to keep things tidy and clean while you’re working. My corner of the Art room gets messy with clay

on the floor, but that just adds to the whole experience.

We’re currently doing 3-D art, creating sculptures from all sorts of materials such as plaster, metal and glass. I haven’t used glass before, so I’m excited to learn how to do that and start adding glass to my sculptures. I never used to weld, but now I’m learning the style and composition involved with welding in metal – I’m working on a skull at the moment. My style is generally imaginative and fantastical. I’m not sure where the inspiration comes from, but I’m glad it’s there.

Art lessons are very sociable, but the atmosphere can really vary: sometimes it’s quiet in the art room and some days everyone will be talking and helping each other, including people who may not normally speak to each other that much. Lessons bring

people together. The work benefits when we feel relaxed and able to be ourselves.

I was always interested in doing Art. That interest has grown, since I came to Aiglon six years ago – I’m studying it now at International Baccalaureate Higher level and I’m hoping to go on to art school. I’d like to apply for Parsons Paris School of Art and Design. If I don’t get in, I’ll do an art foundation course. W

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(Le Cerf, Upper Sixth)Tala Tamimi

Photographs:MARCUS GINNS

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Patrick RobertsTeacher and photographer

My more serious photography began in my second year at Aiglon, thanks to my then student Paul Rudé (Alpina, 1967). He did two things: first he encouraged me to take transparencies, rather than prints, and second he sold me a Minolta camera. This was not an SLR (they had not come along yet), but it had a superb lens and took great photos. Later I moved on to more sophisticated cameras, but always stayed with Minoltas, which I found to be excellent. At that time, colour trans-parencies were sent away to be processed. You could get into colour work and do it yourself, but I never did. Too time-consuming. Black-and-white shots, however, I developed and printed myself. I knew how to do this before coming to Aiglon and I soon got an enlarger and the necessary gear set up, initially in the old chemistry lab in Clairmont. Later, I spent countless hours in the darkroom in Clairmont basement working on the yearbook. People soon got used to me being around with my camera. Naturally, I wasn’t the only one taking pictures, but the only other person I know who took many photos was [teacher] Fritz Koch. There were no digital cameras then, and no mobile phones on which to take photos!

In the beginning I had no deliberate intention to document school life – I can’t say I always had my camera to hand. But if there was any kind of special event going on I would be there. Of course once I started working on the yearbook – which I did for seven years – I had to try and record everything that happened in that year! It’s hard to know how many photographs I took altogether. Aiglon has the bulk of my general archive – what’s that, 500 pictures or so? I have maybe another couple of hundred here, of skiing and expeditions; I expect I shall pass them on to the school one day. A school is a wonderful place to take photos; there’s so much going on and children and young people are usually natural and make good subjects.

In pictures

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In 1965, Patrick Roberts joined Aiglon as Head of Chemistry. He brought a camera with him.

Vintage

1986Aiglon

To see more vintage photos visit facebook.com/aiglon for Vintage Friday – a weekly blast from Aiglon’s past.

Pietro Dova (Belvedere, 1980)

This picture was taken at the top of the Roc d’Orsay on the last ski day of the 1980 winter term (so probably March or early April 1980). It was also the day of the Beginner’s Ski Race and my last day of skiing at and for Aiglon. Since we were allowed to wear casual dress, I think Federico and I (and everyone else for that matter) just picked whatever fun stuff we could find in our closet! Seeing this photo brought back happy memories; it helps that it is of me and my best friend. Federico and I were expert skiers and leaders on the racing team – happy days.

Valentine (Tina) Walsh (Clairmont, 1971)

This picture was taken at an ice hockey match at Villars Patinoire: Aiglon vs unknown, a home match. I remember we were thrilled with the banner, but I can’t remember who created it. It was made out of a bed sheet! I also remember being very proud of that hat and maxi coat, which I had been given for Christmas. I guess that makes the date something like early 1970. We are, from left to right: Kam Marshall, Emily Pessoa, me, Terry Gorgé, and Sue Rogers. We girls were all very close because we were the first couple of years of girls at Aiglon. By the second year there were around 20 girls, and I was one of those. John Corlette said there was no way we would be treated any differently from the boys, so cold showers for the girls it was. I hate to say it but I loved it – we had a bit of the pioneer spirit, girls in a boys’ school!

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Girls’ volleyballSarah MansfieldPE teacher and girls’ volleyball coach

There’s a real buzz around Aiglon sports at the moment, and nothing captures the buoyant mood more than the girls volleyball teams. Of course, Aiglon girls have been digging and spiking on the volleyball courts for many years, building on the solid foundations previously established, but rarely have we seen the sort of consistent success we’ve been enjoying recently. Autumn is the main competitive season, and our girls’ A and B teams have been among the silverware repeatedly. The A team won three out of four matches in tournaments hosted by Zurich International School and the International School of Lausanne (ISL), and went one better at our own event when

the team, captained by Jessica Varga-Papp (Clairmont, Upper Sixth), won the tournament overall. But the pinnacle of the season came in the SGIS Championships held at the beginning of November in Leysin, when we were crowned SGIS volleyball champions for the first time in Aiglon’s history. The tournament called for the girls to cut short their holidays slightly, demonstrating yet again a high level of commitment, but they were rewarded with top seeding after a gruelling first day of competition. Battling their way to the final on day two against old rivals ISL, the result went right down to the wire in front of a sometimes-hostile crowd, but Aiglon completed victory with a remarkable show of mental and physical toughness. To say we’re absolutely thrilled by this outstanding achievement is something of an understatement! The good news, however, isn’t constrained to just this one side. Pleasingly our B team, captained for the last two seasons by Lower Sixth student Aleksandra Mikus (Exeter) has been no less successful than the A team and a great learning environment for our future stars. After losing just two matches in the whole of last year, the team has so far been unbeaten this season, winning all 12 of their matches to date and leaving the competition in their wake. A lot of our success is the result not only of hard work by the girls, but also the training and development structure that has been put in place. With these two groups we’ve worked diligently over the past few seasons to establish a genuine squad feel. We currently have a group of around 20 at varsity level, most of whom have been with us for four years but with the odd sprinkling of new and experienced players. The girls train together – each under the watchful eye of their own dedicated coach, Marco Beata and myself – and the impact of the new sports centre cannot be underestimated, allowing regular, uninterrupted and highly effective training sessions to help enthuse our committed band of players. Long may it continue!

Skiing

Nine members of the Aiglon Ski Team returned early from the October half-term holiday for pre-season training in Zermatt. The conditions were excellent and the weather simply perfect, with five days of cloudless blue skies. There were very few people on the glacier so, with no time spent queuing, we really did plenty of skiing. These first days of the season on skis are used to improve technique and ski easy training courses. Video analysis and ski tuning sessions completed the days and some of the group even fitted in some holiday work after all of this! Everyone in the group worked really hard and so it was tired but happy stu-dents that returned to Aiglon just in time for the next half of term.

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PhotographsMARCUS GINNS

Far left:Marco Beata, Director of Estates and volleyball coach, says: “Your victory was just around the corner. You didn’t give up and stretched your arm to reach it! Congratulations!”

Left:Sarah Mansfield,PE teacher and girls’ volleyball coach

Above:SGIC Girls Volleyball Championship cups

Aiglon sports in numbers

160students that participated in the Villars Sports Olympiades 2014, hosted at Aiglon College.

50%medals of those on offer won by Aiglon students at the SGIS Individual Tennis Championships 2014 in Leysin (three out of six)

38 number of CAS and sports co-curricular clubs that students can participate in each week

13teams that competed at the SGIS Girls Volleyball Tournament in Leysin. Aiglon emerged as champions.

9members of the Aiglon Ski Team who spent five days in perfect conditions at a training camp in Zermatt.

3basketball tournaments that were held at Aiglon in November: ADISR Boys and Girls and SGIS Senior Girls.

2 overseas sports tours during the Autumn term : rugby (Leicester Tigers, UK) and football (Juventus, Italy).

2students selected to represent their country in alpine skiing and skier cross at international events. Congratulations to Emma Peters (Le Cerf, Lower Sixth) and Jake Doyle (Belvedere, Third Form).

Go to www.aiglonlife.ch/sports for the latest Aiglon sports fixtures.

Above: Girls’ SGIS volleyball champions, (left to right) Jessica Varga-Papp, captain (Clairmont), Julia Charpentier (Exeter), Ekaterina Meshcheryakova (Le Cerf), Ksenija Gomilanovic (Exeter), Marie Gschwandtner (Le Cerf), Sofija Becanovic (Le Cerf), Blanca Campanini-Bonomi Martinez (Clairmont) and Tijana Suvacarov (Clairmont).

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Interview:LUCY JOLIN

Nishat Ambareen (Exeter, 2004)

& Bilal Ahmed

We are always delighted to hear about Aiglonian lives. Update classmates and friends at www.aiglonlife.ch/classnotes or to feature in Hitched please email [email protected]

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Nishat Ambareen (Exeter, 2004) married computer engineer Bilal Ahmed on 1 August 2014 in Muscat, Oman. “In another life, Bilal would have been a car,” says Nishat. “In particular, a BMW.”

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It was, says Nishat Ambareen, a very modern way of meeting. They had lived in the same city for years – but it wasn’t until she moved away and started using a dating site that they found each other.

“We actually met online!” she remembers. “I had moved to Calgary from Montreal for work. I wanted to meet new people so I used a dating site. Bilal was the only person I enjoyed talking to online. Of course, it turned out that he was in Montreal. A few weeks later I flew to Montreal and we met up. We kept in touch and it all stemmed from there.”

The couple spent 18 months in a long-distance relationship before Nishat decided to move back to Montreal, where she’d lived while studying for her degree in chemical engineering. There was no formal wedding proposal, says Nishat. “We’re both very practical people! So there were just discussions and suggestions. Like ‘do you want to go ring shopping?’”

Nishat wore red for the ceremony in Muscat, and had her arms and legs painted with intricate henna patterns for their traditional three-

day wedding celebrations, attended by 200 family and friends. Back in Montreal, they held a reception for another hundred people. “It was wonderful to have a big family celebration,” says Nishat. “Lots of food, lots of cousins and lots of goodwill!”

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